Cornish Looking for an Encore; Chose CFL over NFL

Entering his sixth season with the Calgary Stampeders, Jon Cornish has firmly entrenched himself as a premier running back in the Canadian Football League.

Last year, Cornish had a breakout season with the Stampeders as he ran for a career-high 863 yards and nine touchdowns.

"I've always known I can be a top running back in this league," said Cornish, who also racked up 385 receiving yards and hauled in two touchdown passes last season. "I'm not going to lie. That's the reason why I came up to the CFL rather than being some back-up in the NFL. I wanted to be one of the best Canadian players to ever play this game."

The Stampeders drafted Cornish, who played college football for the University of Kansas Jayhawks, in the second round (13th overall) of the 2006 CFL Canadian Draft.

From 2008 to 2010, Cornish served as Calgary's primary backup running back. That all changed 13 weeks into the 2011 season, when Cornish supplanted Joffrey Reynolds as starting running back for the Stamps.

"I never competed against anybody," said Cornish, who hails from New Westminster, B.C. "It's weird to really say that, but for me I just wanted to be the best player I can be and that's how I've approached camp every year. I never really viewed it as me having a personal competition with any running back I've been against. I've always thought to be the best running back I can be and the rest just happens."

Cornish pointed to Calgary's depth on offence as a big reason why he has found success as a running back in the CFL.

"I'm in a very fortunate position that I have another running back, LaMarcus Coker, that's equal in everything that I can do and we have so many great wide receivers that are all equal in their own right," Cornish said. "We have too many weapons. If you want to take away one, we're just going to use another."

Offensive co-ordinator Dave Dickenson has been impressed with Cornish's attitude during training camp leading into Calgary's first exhibition game at home on Friday night against the Edmonton Eskimos.

I love Cornish's attitude. He doesn't consider himself in competition with other running backs on his team he's just trying to be the best he can be and let things sort themselves out. I really like that mentality. I mean as long as you're internally driven, you don't need to pit yourselves against teammates for motivation.

I think it's very interesting that he chose to pursue being on of the greatest running backs the CFL has ever seen as opposed to being a forgotten backup in the NFL. He'd probably make more as a backup but that just proves money isn't everything.

My favorite part of the article is later on when Tate weighs in on Cornish. "He might be one of the weirdest people I've ever met, but he brings it every game day so you have to respect that." "He's a great guy, a smart guy. I'm happy for him to have this situation. He's definitely earned it."

Obviously he's smart. He posts on our site!

Come on now Tate, Cornish is weird? Okay maybe, but this is coming from the guy who wants to take ballet?!